


She was Young and Restless

by talesfromthesnogbox



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: F/M, I have an extensive knowledge of Y&R apparently, Missing Moments, Tumblr Prompt, fill in the blanks, idk guys this got really long
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-27
Updated: 2018-08-27
Packaged: 2019-07-03 03:06:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15810045
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/talesfromthesnogbox/pseuds/talesfromthesnogbox
Summary: El learns what a kiss is during her year in hiding with the help of her soap operas, and it only makes her want to see him more. When they finally kiss at the Snow Ball, it's to show that she understands and feels the same way.Missing moments/character study type fic based on a headcanon found on Tumblr by the lovely historyandships. Thank you for sharing your headcanon with us, and thank you for allowing me to run with it in fic form!





	She was Young and Restless

**Author's Note:**

> I know I was supposed to catch up on prompts that have been sitting in my inbox 5ever, but here I am writing another thing based on a headcanon. 
> 
> Thank you to historyandships for posting and allowing me to run with your headcanon in fic form! 
> 
> Like always, I hope you enjoy, and I love and appreciate every one of your comments and kudos!

Being in the cabin with Hopper was fun. El had grown up always having to entertain herself, but now that she had someone else there to talk to, to ask questions, she never wanted to go back to solitude.

 

But, Hopper had a job. An important one.

 

“Being the chief of police isn’t all fun and games.” He’d told her after his third late night in a row. Staying in the cabin with Hopper wasn’t the same as staying in Mike’s basement. He couldn’t just skip work, and he didn’t have any toys for her to play with like the Wheelers did. But one day, Hopper brought home something that would change El’s life.

 

“It’s called a television.” He’d told her.

 

“I-I know.”

 

“Right, the Wheelers probably had one.” El nodded. “Well, let me get it set up… I uh… my show is on in a bit.”

 

“Your show?”

 

“Yeah… you know… group of people, some stuff happens, it continues on the next week. It’s like a story from a book… but you watch it.”

 

El nods. Minutes later, it’s set up, and Hopper makes himself comfortable beside the smaller girl.

 

_“Previously on the Young and the Restless…”_ She frowns, watching the drama from the previous episode retold. “Young and restless?”

 

“Yeah kid, like…” his face goes red… “like a soap opera. It’s… it’s intense stuff. That man there,” he points to a man with a big bushy mustache, much like himself, “that’s Victor. He pretended to be dead so he could run off with her,” he points to a blonde lady, “Nikki. They have a daughter together, Victoria.”

 

Hopper recounted years worth of information on this show over the soft, dreamy music of the introduction.

 

The two of them sat entranced by the happenings on screen… El only tore her eyes away when she heard a soft sniffle beside her.

 

The two people from the intro, Victor and Nikkie, were dressed in fancy clothes in front of a large group of people. The show had said it was a “wedding”. It looked like it was a happy occasion, so why was Hopper crying?

 

She reached up and poked the tear with her finger, causing Hopper to look over at her. “Sorry kid, happy tears. They… they’ve had a rough journey.”

 

El nodded and turned back to the television. At the end of the ceremony, Nikki and Victor’s lips touched, much like Mike had done to El all those months ago in the cafeteria.

 

Her heart jumped to her throat as she watched the couple on screen touch lips again and again. It seemed like a lot of the men and women on the show were doing it, followed by big bright smiles as they gazed into each other’s eyes. But what did it mean?

 

* * *

 

Every day, Hopper and El would sit together and watch The Young and the Restless without fail. Hopper would try harder to be home for El so they could catch up on their show together. She became quicker with her words and picked up on vocabulary the more she watched it, and Hopper was proud of how far she’d come. If he ever got home late or missed an episode, El was right there waiting to tell him what he’d missed.

 

El decided she loved keeping up with all the drama between the Newman family and the Abbott family, and baby Victoria was just so cute! But one day, El couldn’t let go of her curiosity.

 

“Hopper, why do Victor and Nikki do that with their lips?”

 

“What, kiss?”

 

El nodded.

 

Hopper raised his eyebrows and blew out a puff of air. “Well kiddo, Victor and Nikki are in love, and a kiss is a way to show affection to someone.

 

“Is that why sometimes you put your lips on my head?”

 

He smiled. “Exactly. I show my affection to you with a kiss. But for Victor and Nikki it’s a little different.”

 

She cocked her head and frowned. “Why different?”

 

“Well… you see kid, there’s different kinds of love. There’s friend love, like Jack and Julia, there’s family love like Jack and Ashley, they’re brother and sister and even though they fight about Jabot, they still help each other. Or Nikki, she loves Victoria unconditionally because she’s her mother. And there’s romantic love… like Victor loves Nikki. He’d do anything for her, and sometimes those things are bad or get him in trouble, but he does it to protect her and show her he cares.” He coughed. “So when I kiss you on the head, that’s family love, like Nikki and Victor love Victoria. I want to protect you and watch you grow like a… like a father protects his daughter. But when Victor kisses Nikki, that’s a romantic kiss.”

 

“But why does Victor kiss Nikki on the lips and Victoria on the head?”

 

“You see… different love is shown in different ways. A kiss on the lips is more… intimate, and is meant for someone that you love romantically. A kiss on the head or a kiss on the cheek is not so private. It doesn’t mean that it’s less meaningful than a kiss on the lips, but… I mean… there are different… _feelings_ that come with kisses like that.” Hopper’s cheeks flushed pink.

 

“What kind of feelings?”

 

“I dunno kid, sometimes a romantic kiss can make you feel tingly all over, or give you butterflies. Those feelings are important, and it’s why you should share a kiss on the lips with someone special. Love is powerful, don’t underestimate it.”

 

El nodded. “So what does it mean when they kiss in bed then?”

 

Hopper’s eyes went wide and he rested his head against the back of the couch. “Nope, that’s another conversation for another day when you’re older. Not ready to talk about that yet.”

 

* * *

 

The more El and Hopper watched The Young and the Restless, the more she thought about when Mike pressed his lips to hers. It was nothing like the kisses Nikki and Victor shared, but still… it had been a kiss on the lips. She remembered how her head felt fuzzy, how her lips tingled and how hot her face felt after he’d done it. Did that mean that she loved him?

 

Of course El loved Mike, he’d been her first friend, he saved her life and she’d always love him for that, but was she _in love_ with Mike? And was Mike in love with her?

 

As the days in the cabin passed, El grew more accustomed to her daily routine, and part of that routine was entering the void. She couldn’t physically leave the cabin, but she could extend herself to see how her favourite person was.

 

It hurt El’s heart to see Mike in pain, and she felt like she saw a lot of it these days. Summertime was supposed to be fun from what she’d seen on the commercials between her soaps, but Mike looked miserable. He called every day on his supercom, tears spilling down his cheeks as he told her how much he missed her. Most of the time, El would sit and cry with him, longing to reach out to him again and pull him into his arms, longing to tell him she was alive and safe and it would all turn out okay.

 

Maybe he really was in love with her.

 

Finally, on that fateful day in early November, El couldn’t take it anymore… she _had_ to go see Mike. The longing was too much for her to handle, she just needed to be near him for even just a minute.

 

But as she got to the Hawkins Middle School gym, Mike was there with another girl. She felt like Nikki did when she found out that Victor had an affair with Ashley Abbott. Her heart was broken, and she thought that maybe Mike loved another girl more than he loved El. But just like would always Nikki loves Victor, El would always love Mike, and another trip to the void would confirm that Mike didn’t love the girl with the red hair, he still called out to El and longed for her too.

 

She thought a lot about what would happen when she saw him again.

 

Mike was what kept El grounded, and every time she saw him in her head, she felt stronger. She decided that what they had was romantic love… what Hopper had described to her all those months ago was exactly how she felt about the boy who’d saved her, and she wanted nothing more than to kiss him, _really_ kiss him again.

 

So that’s what she did. Or rather… that’s what she _tried_ to do.

 

The night of their reunion had been bittersweet, and she wanted nothing more than to stay with Mike, and hold him as he held her once she’d finally returned. But El had a job to do.

 

She had to close the gate, El knew it had to be her, and she knew a kiss from Mike would make her all the more confident in her abilities.

 

He was sad… she had to leave him again, if only for a little while, but she promised she’d come back this time. El decided it was the perfect moment; a kiss would surely seal their promise, right? She leaned into him, her eyes darting from his, red and teary, to his lips. They were so close, she could feel his breath on her own, but Hopper chose to step in right then and there. She had a job to do, and the quicker she could get it over with, the quicker she could kiss Mike.

 

* * *

 

“El? El? Come on, you need to drink something.”

 

El had closed the gate two weeks ago, and she had yet to see Mike. She’d never taken into account the recovery she’d have to go through, using that much power had wiped her out for a solid 24 hours until finally she’d croaked through cracked lips that she was thirsty.

 

Her body felt weak, she still couldn’t even properly walk, so seeing Mike was currently out of the picture.

 

He still called her every day, even though her voice was hoarse and she didn’t speak much, she enjoyed hearing about what they’d been up to, Will’s recovery, and one day, Mike had a special question for her.

 

“Hey, um, El? I-I was wondering… d-d’you remember last year in the cafeteria, do you remember what we were talking about?”

 

“Before we kissed?” Hopper shot her a look.

 

“Y-yeah. The snowball, do you remember that?”

 

She nodded, forgetting he couldn’t see her when they spoke on the phone. “You don’t go with your sister.”

 

Mike chuckled on the other end. “Right, you go with someone you like. El, do you… do you maybe want to go to the snow ball with me?”

 

Her eyes widened and she drew her lips into a giddy grin. “Does that mean you like me?”

 

He paused. “Yeah El, it means I like you.” She could hear the smile in his voice.

 

“Okay, let me just ask Hopper, I’ll call you back.”

 

The two hung up and El looked towards Hopper expectantly.

 

He looked back down to the newspaper on the coffee table, pretending to be engrossed in what it said, and not in her conversation with Mike.

 

“So, what did the kid want?”

 

“He asked me to go to the Snow Ball with him.” El smiled as she took a seat beside him on the couch.

 

Hopper sighed and leaned back, resting his head against the back of the couch. “El, you know you can’t go.”

 

Her smile fell. “B-but why not?”

 

“We talked about this.” His voice was soft, but El could tell he was serious. “I don’t want you to be upset, and you know you’ll be able to see him, but I can’t let you leave the cabin just yet.”

 

Tears came to her eyes.

 

“You know it’s still dangerous for you out there El, I don’t want to put you in that danger. I… I care about you too much to make that mistake. I’m sorry kid.”

 

El nodded; she didn’t like Hop’s answer, but she knew he was right.

 

“Hey, why don’t we set a date for him to come over another day instead?”

 

“O-okay.”

 

She never called Mike back, too upset to tell him that she wasn’t allowed to go.

 

* * *

 

The day of the Snow Ball had arrived, and El was especially quiet. She could be a moody kid when she wanted to be, but Hopper had never seen her look so outright upset, even more so than when he first told her she couldn’t go.

 

He was ecstatic to finally tell her that he’d be bringing her over to Joyce’s for a little bit of a makeover.

 

The young teenager was practically vibrating in her seat she was so excited, up until the moment they finally pulled into the parking lot of Hawkins Middle School, then, her expression changed immediately.

 

“What’s wrong kid, aren’t you excited?”

 

El nodded. “Nervous.”

 

_Back to one-word sentences I see_. “Nervous to see Mike?” She nodded again. “Hey, don’t you worry about it. He won’t be upset that you didn’t call him once he sees how beautiful you are.”

 

She blushed and looked down at her hands, wringing her fingers together. “W-what if he kisses me again, like Nikki and Victor kissed at their wedding?”

 

There it was, the question that Hopper never expected to come up. “W-well you like Mike, right?”

 

El nodded. “He makes me feel butterflies.”

 

Hopper smiled at his adoptive daughter’s dreamy expression. “I’m sure you give him butterflies too kid. Don’t worry about it. Follow what your heart says. But if he tries to kiss you and your heart tells you no, I give you full permission to punch him in the face, got it?”

 

El giggled. “Got it.”

 

“Good. Now get out there and have some fun. You deserve it.”

 

* * *

 

The Snow Ball was unlike anything El had ever seen. It was like she’d stepped into a fairy tale and in her mind, rivaled all of the fancy parties they’d gone to on _The Young and the Restless_ because it was _real_.

 

It only took a minute for her and Mike to lock eyes. They met in the middle of the dance floor, and immediately, her heart sped up.

 

She blushed when he told her she was beautiful, and was speechless… they were finally there, at the Snow Ball _together_.

 

“D-do you want to dance?” Mike asked, such hope in his eyes.

 

“I-I don’t know how.” El could see Mike’s face fall, but only a little bit.

 

“Neither do I. Do you want to figure it out?”

 

She nods as she feels him take her hand and lead her to the middle of the crowd.

 

His hands felt right sitting on her waist, and she thought back to Nikki and Victor and how they danced on their wedding night.

 

That feeling overtook her, the one that made the butterflies dance in her stomach and her heart speed up in anticipation, and El knew that she wanted to kiss Mike again. She wanted to follow her heart, but she didn’t know how. Her own vulnerability was about to take control, but luckily, Mike had the same thought.

 

His eyes darted to her lips, and she could feel him silently asking her for permission as they swayed closer together with the rhythm of the music. He paused, only for a second, before closing his eyes, and the distance between them.

 

Her own fairytale was coming true, and in that moment, all El felt was bliss.

**Author's Note:**

> So yes, I do actually know a lot about the Young and the Restless (my mother hasn't missed an episode since 2015 and I used to watch it with her when I lived at home/still do sometimes when I'm visiting even though it's kinda trash imho). But also thank you to Wikipedia for helping me fill in some of the blanks because I don't actually know THAT much about the characters.
> 
> Once again, I love and appreciate every one of your views, comments and kudos! <3


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